So there’s still plenty of time for more rain. The rest of the month is predicted to be dry, but January falls in the middle of the rainiest part of the year, typically December through February and, sometimes, March. Beyond about a week or maybe two, current forecasting skill offers little certainty about future conditions, experts say. But reading the future is still largely a guessing game. There are tools and guidelines to inform the decision about when to close the gates again. So what do this month’s rains signal for the rest of the year? The short answer is no one knows.Īt this moment, the gates at Coyote Dam are open, as the operators of Lake Mendocino seek the sweet spot between hoarding long-awaited rainfall and leaving enough capacity to receive runoff from potential storms that may still be ahead. That season, a stunning 46.5 inches of precipitation was measured in downtown Santa Rosa, and flooding on the Russian River caused $155 million in damage around the county. If we get to 33.78 inches or more, it will be the first time the region has had a statistically normal rain year since 2018-19. 1, the start of the water year, and is nearly three-fourths of the way to seasonal normal rainfall for 2022-23. The airport already has received 24.44 inches since Oct.

Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, 18.76 inches fell, more than three times the 25-year mean of 5.42 inches for the entire month of January. Guerneville saw 30.21 inches in the 23-day time frame Cloverdale, 23.98 Healdsburg, 23.75 and Lake Sonoma, 27.76.Īt Santa Rosa’s Charles M.

Bay area rainfall totals